A home in Dorchester and two in London were damaged after separate fires Thursday night and Friday morning.

A couple in their 80s got out safe thanks to neighbours knocking on their door after their home in east Dorchester caught fire.

"Thank God for the neighbours," says the couple's son, Paul Vandeven. "And thanks to their quick thinking, my mom and dad got out OK."

Janet Foster first smelled smoke at the home on Foxhollow Drive Friday morning and alerted her husband, Ted. He called 911 and then the pair rushed next door and managed to get Ann and Arnond Vadeven to safety.

"I didn't panic, that's the main thing. I didn't panic, I just figured get them out, we've got time," Ted Foster says.

The Vadevens were checked out by paramedics and are OK.

The fire is believed to have started in the garage, which houses a hot tub, and caused significant damage to the condominium, estimated at $300,000.

A firewall prevented the blaze from spreading to other units, but there was some smoke damage to the adjoining townhouse.

In London, fire officials are reminding residents about the danger of kitchen fires after two separate incidents that sent two people to hospital with non-life threatening burns.

Crews were called to 445 Riverside Dr. around 5 p.m. Thursday and to a 369 Simcoe St. around 4 a.m. Friday for kitchen fires.

Damage to the Riverside home was estimated at $7,500 while at the Simcoe residence an estimated $50,000 in damage was caused.

The London Fire Department says of the fires in 2014 where the cause has been identified, 40 per cent were cooking-related.